Halic- Kemerburgaz Light Railway (Tramway) Will Be Actualised in Istanbul

Historical Halic- Karadeniz( Black Sea) Tramway will be reconstructed as Halic- Kemerburgaz Tramway. In order to solve the heavy traffic problems of Istanbul, IBB ( Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality) announced a new light railway (tramway) transportation project from Halic to Kemerburgaz.

The project will be the first project which is constructed by using only IBB’s own budget. The Tender will be initiated on 13th January 2016 at 10:00 am by IBB( Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality). Construction time for the project has been determined as 22 months.

The railway will be 25 kilometers and there will be 10 stations on the railway. Planned stations of the project are Gokturk, Ayvad Bendi, Mithadpasa, Kemerburgaz, Hamidiye, TT Arena, Cendere, Sadabat, Kagıthane and Santral Istanbul. Besides these stations, there will be one maintenance and storage area.

The railway will be integrated with Eminonu- Alibeykoy Tramway on the Silahtaraga Station, with Mahmutpasa- Mecidiyekoy- Kabatas metro line on Sadabat Station, and with Istinye- ITU( Istanbul Technical University)- Kagithane metro line on TT Arena Station. Meanwhile, Mahmutpasa- Mecidiyekoy- Kabatas metro line is under construction and Istinye- ITU- Kagithane metro line is on the plan phase.

In this historical railway only nostalgic trains will be used. In addition, 2 meters width bicycle road and 2 meters width walk way will be constructed throughout the railway.

This railway was used secretly during the World War 1 and the name was Halic- Karadeniz (Black Sea) for coal transportation from coal mine in the Black Sea Region to İstanbul.